Consulting Technology Company announcement

Tuesday, August 14th 2012

FY2012 Headlines

? Revenue of $171.22m (down 7% on the prior corresponding period).

? EBITDA of $18.85m (down 10% pcp).

? NPAT of $11.84m (down 10% pcp).

? Diluted EPS of 12.6 cents (down 10% pcp).

? Final fully franked dividend of 5.5 cents. Total dividend pay?out for the year of 11 cents (up from 8.5 cents pcp).

? Operating cash flow of $26.57m. Ratio of operating cash flow to NPAT of 125% (after adjusting for Tenix one off net receipts).

? Ended June 2012 with 1,133 total staff (down 10 staff pcp). India at 187 resources (up 18 staff pcp).

? Improved Q4 FY2012 performance in most locations across all key metrics - utilisation, sales and staff churn.

? Sales in H2 FY2012 up 27% on the pcp and included an increased level of multi?year deals.

? Finished FY2012 with booked and committed revenue at 43% (42% pcp) of FY2013 full year revenue budget which is targeted at a small increase on the pcp.

? Executed share buyback with 2,088,361 (2.23%) of issued shares purchased up to reporting date.

Australian consulting and I.T. services provider Oakton Limited [ASX: OKN] today announced a full year net profit after tax of $11.84 million for the year ended June 2012 - a 10% decrease on the corresponding full year period. Revenue was down 7% to $171.22 million and EBITDA decreased by

10% to $18.85 million.

The Oakton Board declared a fully?franked final dividend of 5.5 cents per share. The total dividend payout for the year is 11 cents (8.5 cents pcp). The dividend will be paid on the 17th September

2012 with a record date of the 31st August 2012.

Neil Wilson, Oakton's Managing Director and CEO, made comment on the result.

"FY2012 has been a challenging year in many respects. Market conditions across most sectors and locations were soft as the impacts of international economic pressures were felt domestically. These pressures led to a large number of project deferrals and delays by clients which have materially impacted our trading performance in most locations. As we indicated at our half year results, the
company decided to hold staff levels (net of attrition) in anticipation that a number of projects on delay would recommence in the second half. We are pleased to report that our second half trading performance in most locations improved on the first half and that our decision to hold staff levels was the correct one. Across a number of key metrics - utilisation, staff turnover and sales ? our performance in the second half, particularly in Q4, of FY2012 has improved on the first half. We believe this indicates that our transformation program is now bearing fruit.
The performance of the Victorian operation has progressively improved during the financial year and this location's key metrics are now at as expected operating levels in the context of current market conditions. As expected, the normal cycle of increased demand leading up to the end of the financial year enabled ACT to significantly improve its performance in the second half of the financial year. Additionally the pipeline of future work in this location is strong. Both NSW and QLD had improved performances in the second half; however market conditions in both these locations remain challenging. We are pleased to report that we have established a new operating location in
Perth where opportunities for growth in both Resources and Government sectors are strong. During the second half, we secured a large, multi?year managed services engagement with a multi?national mining company.
Overall, we remain confident that the strategic direction taken by Oakton over the last few years to become a project/outcome and managed services based specialist consulting and I.T. services company, delivering growth through depth and specialisation continues to gain traction. Consistent with this strategy our Hyderabad (India) office continues to provide access to skills at a lower cost than is otherwise available domestically. During the year over $57m of work was retained and/or won where the ability to off shore components of these projects was critical to our success. We see our business model becoming increasingly relevant given the current volatility of the market and the continuing drive from our clients to get "more for less" from a range of specialist providers rather than the large "do everything" global players.
Again, our strong cash flow management has enabled us to maintain our dividend pay?out, eliminate our debt and provide support for continued organic expansion and shareholder returns.
We are also able to advise that the level of booked and committed revenue is now at a level that is in line with last year. This is a result of a very strong sales performance in the second half of FY2012 where total sales were up 27% on the prior corresponding period.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our outstanding team at Oakton in both Australia and India for their contributions in what has been a difficult year. We have the best team to enable us to continue on our growth strategy in the future. I would also like to thank our clients, shareholders and the wider investment community for their on?going support and interest in our company"

Oakton will hold its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 21 November 2012 at 10am in its

Melbourne Offices, Level 8, 271 Collins Street, Melbourne.

Further information:

Neil Wilson

Managing Director and CEO

John Phillips

Chief Financial Officer

Tel: +61 3 9617 0200

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